When you’ve struggled with addiction it can feel as if you are stuck in the deepest hole with no imaginable way of getting to the top, continually trying to climb out of a bottomless pit but getting nowhere.

You say you don’t want another drink / line / fag / cake but the compulsive side of you says otherwise. I’ve done it with relationships and jobs as well as substances; I can see how my mind has tricked me into the next binge yet seem powerless to stop this damaging dance of destruction. 

I’ve not watched as much Olympic action as I’d have liked because we’ve had a very busy month of back-to-back retreats here at the centre, but yesterday when everyone went home I watched some of the gymnastics that I’d recorded. 

I competed myself at county level in my youth and trained three or four times per week before I found boys, booze and partying. However I’ve always stayed in touch with the sport and watch it whenever it’s on the TV. Yesterday was amazing and had me in tears as I watched the recording of team GB take numerous medals.

As I watched these athletes on the podium experiencing their finest moment I connected deeply with them as I know exactly how they are feeling; not because I won anything of note when I competed myself, but because I have found FREEDOM in sobriety. Every single morning that I wake up sober it is like stepping up and having an Olympic gold medal placed around my neck. 

All the hard work and struggle paid off.

It was all worth it.

And the sense of pride.

The smell of success.

The elevation of my consciousness as I breath in the realisation that I am utterly free.

The way I have achieved this gold medal of sobriety is being: ALL IN

Just like the athletes that we’ve been watching these past weeks.

ALL IN means that I have committed 100% just like the divers as they jump from 10m.

ALL IN means that I have committed 100% just like the sprinters as they fly out of the starting blocks.

ALL IN means that I have committed 100% just like the high jumpers as they leap over the bar.

ALL IN means that I have committed 100% just like the cyclists as they whizz around the velodrome.

IT’S ALL ABOUT COMMITMENT

We have around 37.2 trillion cells in our bodies and if we are sending out a half-hearted message to them,

“Well I don’t really want to drink AGAIN tonight but it’s just so HARD to not give in to a glass of wine when the kids have gone to bed. I’m so stressed that I NEED it to RELAX me, even though I’d like to wake up earlier and feel better about myself”

Those poor cells don’t really understand what you are asking of them…..

“I don’t really want to drink again” = SHE DOESN’T WANT TO DRINK

“It’s just so hard to not” = SHE DOES WANT TO DRINK

“I’m so stressed that I need it to relax me” = SHE DOES WANT TO DRINK

“I’d like to wake up earlier and feel better about myself” = SHE DOESN’T WANT TO DRINK

Can you see how that conversation is confusing?

How we are giving out mixed messages all of the time? 

When we do this there is no wonder that we struggle. 

We have to commit.

Like training for the Olympics.

We have to be ALL IN.

And when you find a trainer for the sport that you want to compete in you look at their credentials; have they themselves won a gold medal? Do they know what it means to be ALL IN? Can they teach you that? 

THE GOLD MEDAL OF SOBRIETY

Only train to be sober from someone who is totally free themselves. 

A person that can share how to find that place within them that wants to stop self-harming.

Somebody who knows what it feels like to stand on the Olympic podium. 

To be at the top of their game. 

BELIEVE IT CAN HAPPEN

Every single athlete that took part in the Olympics believed they had a chance.

37.2 trillion cells working in union to the same cause; no confusion, no mixed messages, just pure undiluted belief in themselves and commitment to that moment in time.

A network of people around them who also believe they can do it and have their back.

Support from likeminded individuals who are part of the same team.

The same cause.

Every athlete in the Olympics is addicted to their sport.

They think about it everyday; eat for it; sleep for it; drink for it; train everyday for it; focus their brains around it. So now it is time for you to adopt the same level of commitment to your sobriety.

Each morning as my alarm goes off I lay in bed and run through my day. I imagine the best possible outcome happening for each element and then visualise myself getting back into bed that evening feeling content, full and pleased with how the day panned out. I set the pace, the tone, the mindset from the get-go, and do you know what? It now HAS to happen that way.

MEDITATION IS YOUR TRAINING GROUND

Then I sit on my cushion and train my brain.

Coming back to the present moment over and over again.

This should be an Olympic sport! 

It’s not easy in the beginning!

Many give up!

“I can’t meditate, my brain is too active”

Do you think that Mo Farah said….

“I’m not going to run again because I’m not fast enough”

….the FIRST time he ran just because he wasn’t already at Olympic gold medal speed? 

No he didn’t.

He has staying power.

Commitment.

BELIEF.

And that has to come from his mindset BEFORE it reaches his body.

WHAT YOU THINK YOU BECOME

Meditation is what is going to get you to wherever you want to go the quickest.

Over the finish line first.

And that gold medal of sobriety is waiting to be placed around your neck.

The only question is, are you ready for this level of success?